Kubuntu a dist in crisis?

[Steve Lamb]

Dotan Cohen wrote:
> FOSS software:
> Step 1) Get involved! File a bug report!
> Step 2) The maintainer is busy, please file a patch!
> Step 3) The maintainer is gone, finish the application yourself!

> Credit goes to a prominent member of one of the KDE lists.

     Steps 2 and 3 always bugged me, always.  Because it is more like

1: Get involved!  file a bug report!
1.1: Realize the software is written in a language you don't know.
1.2: Try to learn language and realize you can barely wrap your head around it.
1.3: Once you get "hello world" to work then realize you not only have to get 
proficient in the language but...
1.4: ...learn about 2 dozen libs just to get anything done.
1.5: Throw your hands up in frustration before ever getting to...
2: The maintainer is busy, please file a patch!
2.1: ...much less getting to....
3: The maintainer is gone, finish the application yourself!

     Personally if developers want more people to be involved they really need 
to skip out of the bastardization that is C++ and/or the systems level 
language that is C and move more towards application level languages like 
Python/Ruby/Perl (yes, the order shows my preference) where a large portion of 
the steps between 1 and 2 are simplified.

-- 
          Steve C. Lamb         | But who can decide what they dream
        PGP Key: 1FC01004       |      and dream I do
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